In a medium bowl, stir together tomatoes, corn, cumin, and chopped cilantro; set aside.

In a 2-quart microwave-safe dish with a lid, combine potatoes, shallots, and oil. Season with salt and pepper; spread in an even laver. Cover; microwave on high for 6 minutes.

Place cod in a single layer around the edge of the dish, on top of potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon tomato mixture in the center. Microwave on high until cod is cooked through and potatoes are tender, 9 to 10 minutes. Gently stir to combine; garnish with cilantro leaves.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper. Add the pork chops to the skillet and cook until they are well browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the pork chops to a plate and tent with foil to keep them warm.

Add the onion to the same skillet and saute over medium heat until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, herbes de Provence, and 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend and the juices thicken slightly, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and more red pepper to taste, if desired.

Return the pork chops and any accumulated juices to the skillet. Turn the pork chops to coat them with the sauce, and cook for another 6 to 7 minutes, or until the internal temperature is at least 155 degrees. Place 1 chop on each plate and spoon the sauce over it. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Preheat oven to 400. Using a small sharp knife, butterfly each breast by making a horizontal slit along the long edge of each, cutting nearly through to the opposite side. Open the breast like a book. Place a slice of cheese on one side, leaving a 1/2" border at the edge. Press the other side over to enclose the cheese and set aside. Repeat with the remaining breasts and cheese.

Beat the egg in a small shallow bowl. In a pie plate or shallow bowl, combine the cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.

Holding a stuffed breast together firmly with one hand, dip it into the egg mixture, then dredge it in the cornmeal mixture. Repeat with the remaining breasts and then set aside.

Heat the oil in a large cast-iron or ovenproof nonstick skillet until very hot. Add the breasts (carefully) and brown well on one side, about 2 minutes, then place the skillet in the oven. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink inside, about 20 minutes.

In a large skillet or Dutch oven, brown pork chops in 1 TBS oil. Remove. Add remaining TBS oil to pan; saute garlic, onions and bell pepper. Add broth, water, rice, and mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste; stir. Place pork chops on top of rice. Bake at 350*, covered, for about 35 minutes, until chops and rice are cooked through and most liquid is absorbed.

Place chops between two pieces of plastic wrap. Flatten to 1/4" thickness using a meat mallot or rolling pin. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the pork; cook on each side for two minutes or until browned and cooked through. Remove from skillet; set aside and keep warm. Repeat with remaining pork.

Reduce heat to low. Add evaporated milk; stir in mustard and green onions. Return pork to skillet. Cook one to two minutes (do not boil) or until sauce is lightly thickened, turning pork to coat with sauce.

Heat oil and water in dutch oven to bubbling. Add onions and saute 5-10 min. Depending on how hot you like the soup. Add a little water if too dry. Add, celery, bay leaf, potatoes, and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med. and cook 20 min or until potatoes are tender. Add milk and corn. Simmer (do not boil) 3-5 minutes until corn is tender. Discard bay leaf. Puree 1C of soup in food processor or blender (I used a potato masher and it was perfect!), return to pot and add salt and pepper.

InstructionsFill a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add broccoli and peppers. When water returns to a boil, remove pan from heat, drain and refresh vegetables under cold water. Combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, basil and cilantro together in a small bowl. Combine vegetables, shrimp and spaghetti in a large bowl and toss with dressing until well-coated.

Sep 29, 2007

I love being creative. I love to make my mind work to create new and interesting things. It makes me feel good down to my soul. That is why the look of my blog changes so often. That is why I love to do digital scrapbooking. Creativity soothes my soul. I love it. I love find and creating new combinations of backgrounds, and layouts and headers. I love finding new and interesting things to add.

This has lead to quite a procession of places that people have found me. All with new and interesting layouts and designs and headers and backgrounds, none ever quite good enough to stay forever.

My beginnings at blog layouts were quite simple: HERE. I concentrated on trying to be very amusing and witty.

After that, in September 2005, I felt the need to move along and spread my wings in a place where my whole family weren't there to watch and judge everything I said. I did struggle between my attention loving need to amuse and my need to have a place share. I erred on the side of trying to be wittyback then.

Then I joined ExtraPounds and decided to blog about my weightloss struggles. But it wasn't long before my need to be creative and to design my own blog lead me to Blogger for my weightloss journey as well in July 2006.

For a while, I left my blogger home, in search of greener pastures. I landed in my Bravenet home for a while.

I shifted my weightloss blogthere as well. While there, I shared a lot weightloss tips, recipes, and my journey too.

Eventually, I came back to my bloggerhome it was a new layout, a new name. I like it here. It is familiar and I like being able to adjust the html code. I can make it more personal. And I felt like I was finally in a place where I was happier, I went from being baffled at what Happily Ever after was supposed to look like in my first blog, to finally feeling like I had invented my own happily ever after. I finally feel like I have some measure of control over where my life is going. And I like that. This is where I share that with you. You get a window into my life and I like it bumps, bruises and all.

Along the way, my best friend who had been living with me and my family for three years moved out. It was like losing my closes confidante and I missed her terribly. We would sit and chat over coffee and together we shared out lives, our weightloss journey, our televisions shows, and our girly movies. After she was gone, I missed that. And so OUR BLOG -- Coffee Talkwas born. And when I blog there, I am sharing those things with her again, and with you as well. You get to be the extra freind on the couch, cuddled up with a coffee, chatting and laughing and sharing our weight loss journey, our little things, and our weightloss journey.

So that is me, constantly changing and reinventing myself. And sometimes helping others to do the same like here and here. I even created a separate page for my blogrolls.

DIRECTIONS:1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).2. Place the chicken pieces into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, mix together the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and cola. Pour over the chicken. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil.3. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until the chicken is no longer pink.

Combine first 7 ingredients; mix well. Stir in corn meal and pineapple. Pour into a 5 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until firm to touch.

2. Chicken Stroganoff

Brown in 4 teaspoon olive oil1/2 cup chopped onion3/4 to 1 cup diced or sliced mushrooms ( fresh )1-2 cloves garlic dicedthen add:8 oz chicken breast chopped into bite size piecesContinue to brown can add some chicken broth till chicken is doneThen add:1/2 can cream of chicken soup 98% f/f ( 1.5 points ) or add1 can for ( 3 points )Add 1/2 to 1 can chicken broth bring to boil then add:4 oz dry whole wheat pasta any smaller pasta shape would work. Some pepper & seasoned salt to taste. Let it start to boil again then simmer with a lid for approx 20 mins till pasta is done. Use 1/2 cans of the soup & broth if you use the whole cans I would use 8 oz dry pasta. About 3 servings cause its so filling. When done turn off let sit for about 5-10 mins then right before serving stir in 1/2 - 1 cup fat free sour cream.

3. Core "Makeover" perogies

1/2 a large yellow onion3 slice of polenta (1/2 inch think and then cut into chunks)1 tsp ff sour creamsalt and pepper

Spray skillet with nonfat spray. Saute the onions until sweating (I added a little water the onions so they didnt stick to the pan) and starting to carmelize add polenta and sprinkle onions and polenta with salt and pepper. Let polenta saute with onions. When your onions are carmelized and your polenta slightly browned you can remove them from the pan, plate them and add your ff sour cream.

The flavor of the onions mixed with the polenta and the chill of the sour cream gave me the satisfaction of eating perogies. You probably could make CORE mashed potatoes and place this on top of them to give the potato filling texture.

4. Corn and Potato Chowder

This is so warm and wonderful and you will never know that there is nearly no fat in this.

Heat oil and water in dutch oven to bubbling. Add onions and saute 5-10 min. Depending on how hot you like the soup. Add a little water if too dry. Add, celery, bay leaf, potatoes, and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med. and cook 20 min or until potatoes are tender. Add milk and corn. Simmer (do not boil) 3-5 minutes until corn is tender. Discard bay leaf. Puree 1C of soup in food processor or blender (a potato masher and was perfect!), return to pot and add salt and pepper. This recipe is easily doubled.

Heat a pot of water to a boil for pasta. Salt boiling water and cook pasta to al dente. Heads up: reserve a ladle of the hot cooking water just before you drain pasta.

Place the frozen spinach on a plate and microwave to defrost it according to your microwave's directions. Place defrosted spinach in a clean kitchen towel and wring out the liquid.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Halve the zucchini lengthwise then thinly slice into half moons and add to the pan along with the mushrooms. Cook 2 to 3 minutes then add onions and garlic to the pan. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. When the onions are tender, about 5 minutes, add defrosted spinach, separating into small bits as you handle it, and the roasted red peppers and toss to heat through. Transfer veggies to a dish and return skillet to stove top. Add remaining extra-virgin olive oil add 2 rounded tablespoons of flour and cook a minute or so, then whisk in stock and milk. Bring to a bubble and thicken the sauce, reducing it 2 to 3 minutes. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Slide vegetables back into sauce.

Place the part-skim(FF) ricotta in a large shallow bowl and combine with a ladle of boiling, starchy pasta cooking water. Stir to combine. (Add some 2tsp parm cheese if you want it would only add 1 point to the whole thing.)Drain pasta and toss with cheeses. Add half the vegetables and sauce to pasta and toss to combine. Tear or shred basil and toss into pasta. Adjust seasonings. Top bowlfuls of Vegetable Not-sagna with remaining veggies in sauce and pass extra grated cheese at the table.Serves 4

In a large skillet add the oil .Saute bell peppers until tender.Add rotel tomatoes, black beans and water..Bring to a boil and then add the rice..Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, thenuncover and sprinkle FF cheese on topCover again and let set for 5 more minutes...

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add onions andsaute till tender. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Transfer to crockpotand cook on Low for about 6 hours. Option: Top with shredded fat-freeparmesan cheese.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: A big green salad and a bowl of raw babycarrots with your favorite dressing as a dipping sauce.

NOTES: I made this - I'd recommend not adding the pasta in the beginning. Here's what I'd do... Cook the pasta as directed on the stovetop about 20 minutes before serving. Then stir in to the crock pot, let warm, and serve. Otherwise, the macaroni gets too squishy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. While the noodles are cooking, Using your hands, break the chunks of canned chicken up until the chicken looks shredded, and place it into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add in the chili powder, cumin, onion, tomatoes, green chilies, 1 cup of taco sauce and black beans. Spray a 9X13 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Place the remaining taco sauce evenly in the bottom of the pan, followed by 4 lasagna noodles (you will need to overlap the noodles slightly). Pour 1/2 of the chicken mixture on top; spreading evenly, and then sprinkle with half of the cheese. Place the last 4 lasagna noodles evenly on top, pour on the rest of the chicken mixture; spread evenly, and then sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese on top. Spray the top of the cheese lightly with non-stick cooking spray (this will help it melt better). Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes or until hot in the center. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before cutting.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Prince Charming was nice enough to get up this morning and yesterday morning and see Princess off to school. I got to sleep in! That was heavenly this morning. Hmmmm . . . a rested mommy is a happy mommy. Now I am rushing around, cleaning the house, getting supper, making my lunch and supper, and getting ready for work. But it is nice to be doing that on a good nights sleep.

I am feeling good about my job and I will be starting on a later shift starting next monday. That means I can work full-time and still see Princess more. That works for me. Have a great one guys!

DIRECTIONSHeat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-highheat. Add the onion, red pepper, and garlic. Saute until limp, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, if desired.Push the onion mixture to the edges of the skillet. Add theshrimp and zucchini; sprinkle with thyme and red pepper flakes.Saute until the shrimp are opaque, 4 to 5 minutes.Toss to mix well. Serve immediately.

Sautee the onion, pepper and garlic in a small sauce pan. Add the kidney beans, water and seasoning and simmer on low-medium until it has cooked down and the sauce is thick (about 10 minutes). Serve topped with a sprinkle of Mexican blend shredded cheese.

Like having pizza for breakfast. We love this at our house. You can make all kinds of variations, adding meats or veggies, or omitting them to you personal taste. Kids love them.2 servings 25 min 15 min prep

Beat eggs with water; season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Spray an 8-inch omelet pan or nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat.In small saucepan, heat pizza sauce.Add sausage to skillet. Cook until browned. Set aside.Add pepper, onion, mushrooms, and seasoning to skillet. Cook, covered, over medium heat until peppers are soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.Add cooked sausage to pepper mixture. Pour eggs over pepper mixture. (Eggs should set immediately at edges). With an inverted pancake turner, carefully push cooked portions at edges toward center so uncooked portions can reach hot pan surface, tilting pan and moving cooked portions as necessary. Reserving some sauce for topping, when top of omelet is thickened and no visible liquid egg remains, spoon hot sauce over half of the omelet. Top with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Slide from pan onto plate. Spoon on remaining sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Taco SeasoningThis is a combination of several different taco seasoning recipes. I took the best of each recipe to make this one. Hope you like it.

Sep 22, 2007

It is time for Saturday Scraps! It’s a chance to show off your scrapbook layouts either traditional paper or digital. Everyone is welcome to join in. If you post your layouts, be sure you link to click on the pic to link to the Official Saturday Scraps, so your friends can join us. She also has a Mr. Linky up, so we can all visit your beautiful scrapbook page.

She provides a link for the digital freebie kit to use. You don’t have to use this kit, you can show off any of your digi scrap layouts.

The theme this week is Paper and I immediately thought of all the artwork that fills my life since Princess has brought her colorful outlook into my life. Every day, she brings me new pictures that she has carefully worked on. And as I look at them, I can see them getting better. I can see her artwork changing from random marks that fill the whole page to butterflies, rainbows, fish, spacemen with red faces and kite flying kids. I love to see the changes, it is the most visual way I can think of to see her development. And to see such a creative girl coming from two creative parents makes me happy too.

Sep 21, 2007

It is finally Friday! Woohoo!! Princess went to a birthday party for our neighbour's adorable little boy next door. After work, I met her and Daddy there and we went to Cosco. The only problem is that I ended up working a little late and when we got to Cosco, we had about 45 minutes before they closed! By the time they were watching us like we were wanted criminals. As we went through an isle there was someone at each end of the isle and they turned off the light behind us. We hurried through and forgot some of the stuff we meant to buy and didn't budget as well as we meant to, but we still got a lot of good stuff. I will have to make a trip to the Sobeys next to where I work to pick up our forgotten stuff. As we walked out Prince Charming apologized to the girl by the door who looks at your receipt as you leave. (They checked ours which is crazy because we had easily 4 people watching us at all times, when would we have been able to steal something??) And the girl on the door said, "Oh that's no problem, we are here until 11 anyway. WWHHAATT???? You are here unti 11 and you are watching me going through this store like I have a sign on my back that says, "Watch out I steal stuff?" Crazy stuff. Oh well, it is Friday and I get to stay home and clean up this disaster that is my house tomorrow! Have a great one!

Sep 19, 2007

1. I passed another evaluation with a 95%!2. Princess was given 2 bags of clothes that fit her!3. Princess drew me adorable pics at school that I have on my fridge.4. I love taking Princess to the school bus each morning.5. I enjoy those few moments to stand around with other mommies.6. My neighbour says she has two more bags of clothes for Princess.7. I don't have to walk home anymore this week.8. I get to get groceries tomorrow.9. I got a bonus this paycheque which means that I didn't lose any pay even though I was home two days sick.10. I watched the Big Brother 8 Finale this week.11. I am keeping on top of my housework fairly well this week.12. I was told I am doing an amazing job by my Team leader today at work.13. I am enjoying my job, my life, my baby and my husband.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

It was a good day yesterday at work. Well, good but busy. I hope it is a little slower today. I hope I get to leave the training section soon. Basically how it goes is that you get 4 weeks of in class training and then at least 4 weeks where you are doing your job but you are in the training section with lots of help. I think I am doing really well and I want to get out there out of the training section now.

I am taking the bus home from work (ALL 2 1/2 HOURS!)for today and tomorrow. Then I am taking a taxi for a while. I wrote the city and complained about the bus service and they wrote me back and said it was an oversight and it would be fixed by October 15. so there are only so many days left of this hassle of getting home from work.

It is time for Saturday Scraps! It’s a chance to show off your scrapbook layouts either traditional paper or digital. Everyone is welcome to join in. If you post your layouts, be sure you link to click on the pic to link to the Official Saturday Scraps, so your friends can join us. She also has a Mr. Linky up, so we can all visit your beautiful scrapbook page.

She provides a link for the digital freebie kit to use. You don’t have to use this kit, you can show off any of your digi scrap layouts.

The theme this week is Plastic and I immediately thought of all the ways that plastic is a part of Princess's life, from her plastic dishes, to her plastic toys, to the big plastic fish at the fluvarium.

Sep 14, 2007

I am getting ready to back in to work and today, I am looking forward to going in. I love that I feel like I am good at this. I can do this and I can do this WELL. I like my job, I like the people I work with and I know that give me a little time, and I will get a promotion. Hmmmm . . . I love my life!

Sep 13, 2007

I had a rockin, kick-ass, awesome day. It went really well all day. I handled every case that come my way quickly and I have no new cases today. I got monitored today and I got 100%!!!! and Prince Charming met me after work to go for supper while a neighbour babysat for us. I LOVE MY LIFE!

Sep 12, 2007

I fought with the bus schedule all week, I ended up spending $65 on a bus pass only to spend $50 on cab fares. This sucks!

I can't wait to get my car on the road.

Princess is doing soo well at school. She had a nap today. Apparrently Princess and Daddy both fell asleep. As a result I am writing this at 10:30 and she is still awake and I have no idea when she is going to go to sleep.

I am feeling really strong about diet right now. I am not struggling this week.

I am loving watching Big Brother 8. It is coming up to the end now. I wonder who will get nominated.

I love looking for new recipes. I would love to know you favorite family recipe that I could try for Prince Charming and Princess who have no diet restrictions at all.

I would love to know any vegetarian recipes that you have too.

I loved watching Canadian Idol last night.

Bon Jovi was wonderful! I LOVE LOVE him!

I am doing well at work. I am working hard and I am doing it well I think.

I hope to move up in the company after I have been there for my probation period.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Sep 10, 2007

I got through my Monday. It wasn't too bad. The bus system here has been messed up and I have no idea how I am going to arrange transportation to get home until my car is on the road.

Work went well and I manaaged not to lose my voice while talking. Hopefully my sore throat and my lungs are all the way better tomorrow.

Princess got through her Monday too. She was so sweet getting on the bus. I LOVE this town. She forgot her backpack on the school bus and was completely distraught. Prince Charming called and asked if this was the same bus that was going to be dropping off the older kids this afternoon. The lady on the phone told him that it was and he could go down to the busstop to meet it and he could get her backpack, HOWEVER . . . . while he was on the phone with her, he looked out our window and the school bus pulled up to our front door and the driver got out of the bus and brought Princess her backpack. He doesn't even pick her up at her front door, but he has seen her walking down to the stop and knew where she lived. I LOVE this driver.

Twitter

About Me

I wonder . . . who does the dishes at Cinderella's house. What happened
in her happily ever after? Does she ever get elbow deep in spaghetti
sauce, finger paint and bathwater while Little Princesses make a royal
mess on the floor? I got my fairy tale, Prince Charming came and swept
me away. Now what? That's where the story ends. This is where I live
happily ever after. And along the way, I am finding myself again. I have moved
from following the crowd to following my own path, prefering the life of
a vegetarian, green-living, homeschooling mom. My old-fashioned,
carnivorous, Prince Charming is not sure how he ended up married to
someone like me, but he supports me in being the person that I am and
even loves me for it.

Recipe Note:

Some of the recipes I post I have invented myself, and others I was sent via email from my friends. These are recipes that I really enjoyed and wanted to share. If this recipe is yours, let me know and I would be happy to link to your site and to give you all appropriate credit.